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Post by patience on Sept 3, 2013 8:48:23 GMT -6
Chapter 32, cont'd.
Laura was planning a Christmas party.
"I can make popcorn garlands and I have some Holly berries for color. There are some old ornaments in the loft bedroom. Can you make some wreaths? There is some pine growing over on Gerald's place."
Mike said, "Yeah, I can do that. I have to finish this batch of dog food first. If I don't keep stirring it will stick and burn in the bottom." "I'll be glad when it's done. That is not the best smelling kettle I ever had in the kitchen. What is IN there? Or maybe I don't want to know..."
"It's just some leftovers from butchering that pig, and some cornmeal. Not the most perfect diet maybe, but the dogs are interested. There. That will thicken up when it cools off. Should be fine."
He set the aromatic kettle off the wood range and carried it outside where he put it on the shed roof to cool. No need to let the wildlife get into it, he thought. Mike went back into the house and grabbed his pistol, his folding Buck knife, and his winter coat. "I'll be back before long. I might go say Hi to Gerald on the way and see what they are doing."
"Okay, you be careful." _________________
"I don't have any idea what we should do with the farm next year," Wes said.
Ashley thought he looked pretty grim and said, "With the way prices are in the new money, there is no way we can keep up like we have been doing. We can't make expenses. We'll have to cut way down on the use of machinery. No way can we feed that big truck getting 8 miles to the gallon when diesel is over 6 New Dollars a gallon and corn is only ONE New Dollar a bushel."
Kate said, "Well, they said fuel would come down when the refineries get back up to speed, but I don't believe it. I've never seen fuel go any direction but UP in my lifetime. We have to figure out how to make a living without much fuel."
"I won't be using any gas now, with no job. I doubt if the job would pay for the gas now anyway," Ashley said.
Wes was racking his brain for ideas, but none came. Nobody knew if there would be a market for corn next year, or what the costs would be to produce it. He said, "We still have about 3,000 bushels of corn in the bins, but what should we do with it? It was a good deal to sell 600 bushels for diesel fuel, because we got 300 gallons for it. Even trading a hog for the spare tank from that guy was okay, 'cause now we don't have to worry about fuel. But there is no way to know what we can make on corn next year, or hogs either if we feed some of what we have."
Kate said, "Don't do anything with it. We can sell it next spring for SEED!"
Ashley and Wes looked at her and then it began to sink in as Kate said, "Hybrid seed corn cost near $200 a 50 pound bag last year. That's why we went with the open pollinated kind, even though it was hard to find. The way things are, I wouldn't bet there will be much hybrid seed available next spring with businesses closed, and the money all messed up. That 3,000 bushels will plant about 6,000 acres, and people are going to want it."
She added, "Come to think of it, I'm glad I always saved garden seeds, too. Might be hard to find some next spring. And I had a bumper crop of seed from green beans, sweet corn and some other things. We can keep the neighborhood in garden seed next year, too."
Ashley smiled and said, "You always think of the strangest things, Mom, but it's a great idea!"
"It's brilliant!" Wes was impressed. "It's so simple, and so good. So, if we are going to sell corn, we need to be selling some hogs for now, and cut back on how much grain we feed the cattle. They can get by on hay, and we don't have to push 'em to be ready for market, with no market open now. I think that is going to be the greatest idea you ever had, Kate!"
Kate smiled a little and said, "Maybe that makes it worth celebrating Christmas? You want to make a pumpkin pie, Ashley?"
"Yeah, Mom, and I'll be saving all the seeds out of that pumpkin, too!" ______________
"It's crazy, Todd! What if we get caught with guns by the Army?"
"What difference is there if we get shot by Army troops trying to cross the bridge, or if we get killed by some punks invading our home? Some gang just raided the shopping center in Okalona and set fire to it. We've stayed too long. We need to get to Indiana."
Todd Reynolds put his breakfast dishes in the sink, and helped his wife clear the bar.
"They have soldiers at the bridges. They check everybody for guns and stuff, the TV said."
"Don't worry, I don't think it is that bad yet. Let's get the trailer hooked up and go now. We don't have that much left here to worry about. Alicia, this is why we built the retreat, remember? We're not going through downtown. I plan to take the county roads to Brandenburg and cross there. Not much going on out there, from what I've seen on the news."
His wife nodded and called, "Christopher! Come here, please."
The boy clomped down the stairs like a typical 12 year old and asked, "What's up Mom?"
"We're going to Indiana to the retreat, okay? So get your stuff together. Pack some clothes because we are going to stay a while."
"How long are we going to stay Mom?"
"It might be a long time. We've decided it isn't safe here now, so we are going to lock up the house like we practiced, okay?"
"Yeah Mom! This will be so cool!"
His face brightened and he rushed back upstairs to his room. Todd turned to the back door and hooked up the cargo box trailer to his Ford F-350 Super Duty. The fiberglass camper top had tinted windows and was packed with only a small amount of room at the back. That got filled with the family's duffel bags of clothing, Christopher adding his 2 in last. The sun was up and it was a bright and clear Sunday morning in south Louisville as they rolled out of the rather exclusive subdivision. Todd drove past several other big homes on large tracts of carefully selected wooded land and headed west.
The bridge crossing was anticlimactic. The National Guard soldiers there stopped him and asked what was his purpose for going to Indiana? He told them the truth. They were moving to their country home until things settled down.
The soldier nodded and said, "We've seen some of that going both ways lately. Drive carefully and have a good trip."
Todd told his wife, "I think they are looking for suspicious characters. If it was an old car filled with young punks, they would have a lot more questions."
Alicia breathed a sigh of relief and they continued across the bridge and up the steep grade into Indiana. The diesel growled as Todd downshifted and poured on the power up the hill. _________________
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Post by patience on Sept 3, 2013 11:29:34 GMT -6
Here's the last of what I have done for now. Have notes for more, but this will be a busy day so have to get at it.
Chapter 32, cont'd.
Mel heard the diesel truck long before he saw it. He stuck his .38 in his pants and sat down on the porch in front of his mobile home to watch. The dark green Ford rolled slowly past pulling a long white box trailer. The truck he recognized. It was that rich couple from Louisville that owned the Lincoln Log cabin up the road a piece on the other side. It even had a green roof just like the Lincoln Log kids' toys. They hadn't been out here since late last summer and the weeds were grown up some around the cabin. They must be moving out here now, from the looks of it, he thought. Mel decided to walk over and say hello.
Todd had the trailer backed up into a gravelled parking space and they were taking bags out of the back of the truck when Mel walked up and said, "Hello neighbor! Merry Christmas!"
Todd and Alicia stopped moving. It took them a second to remember that today was Christmas Day. Then they both smiled and said, "Merry Christmas to you Mel!"
"Looks like you're movin' in. Need a hand with things?"
"Uh, well, yeah, can you get that cooler inside? We emptied the refrigerator into it. We're just taking in clothing for now. The rest can wait. I have to get a fire going in the wood stove and turn things on."
Mel carried the cooler inside and said, "The Wilsons are having a Christmas dinner this evening, if you want to come. Ever'body on the road is invited. They butchered a hog last week and got some fresh tenderloin. I'm takin' cornbread and some greens, and ole Harlan will bring fresh milk. Gerald's bringing some of his home made wine and there'll be plenty to eat. Good chance to see ever'body and relax for a while."
Alicia said, "I don't know what we can bring... Oh, there's some things in the cooler. I'll find something."
"Don't matter. Come on over. We're gonna eat about two o'clock, but come anytime."
Mel started for home. He noticed Mike coming out the woods with an armload of pine limbs, headed toward the Reynolds' cabin. Christopher saw Mike first and said, "Dad, Mr. Wilson is coming down the road."
Todd took the armload of firewood in the house and came back outside.
"Hello there! I heard your truck when I was in the woods, so I thought I'd come invite you to Christmas dinner this afternoon. Laura's cookin' like crazy and we'll need some help eatin' all that, so bring an appetite."
Todd stepped forward and shook his free hand. "Thanks. Mel just came over and invited us. We'll be there after while. I have to get the place warmed up, but that's all we have to do today."
"You all goin' to stay a while? Things are kinda rocky in the cities, I hear."
Alicia walked up and said, "It is a nightmare in Louisville. We were afraid to send Chris to school even before they closed down. The city doesn't have fuel for the buses, and the gangs are running wild. We had to boil our water. It's terrible. We saw smoke in the downtown area, so we went through the back roads to Brandenburg and came up that way."
"Any trouble at the bridge? I heard they were stopping everybody."
Todd said, "Yes, they stopped us but no problem there. I think they are just watching for troublemakers."
Christopher said, "Yeah! There were soldiers and they had guns and everything. There weren't many cars, just some big trucks, but not many on the way up here. It was kinda spooky, with no traffic. And there were some soldiers at stop lights in little towns and at the square in Salem, too. This is all weird."
Alicia held her husband's hand and said, "A quiet Christmas dinner is just what we need, I think. We'll come over later." She gave a tentative smile at Mike, who said, "Okay. I have to get busy decorating, or I'll never hear the end of it. See ya!" He picked up his armload of pine branches and walked off. _________________
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Post by idahobob on Sept 3, 2013 12:34:09 GMT -6
Just got caught up again!
I really like the way you have your characters helping each other out. Local mutual assistance groups are going to be so important when TSHTF, especially here in the rural areas. If folks live in the cities or suburbs.......well, I do not see any good scenario for them.
Keep up the good writing.
And as always, I am waiting for MOAR!
Bob III
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Post by hardtrailz on Sept 4, 2013 9:28:51 GMT -6
Got me hooked. Thanks!
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Post by patience on Sept 4, 2013 20:35:04 GMT -6
A bit more this evening.
Chapter 32, cont'd.
Joann was washing up kettles and buckets after draining cheese curds, a noisy process, so she didn't hear anything else. Near the corn crib, Ronnie was in line with a hollow that led up behind Gerald's property, so he easily heard the diesel truck drive in and then maneuver the trailer. Harlan was cleaning some stalls and putting down fresh bedding for the goats, so when he came out of the barn Ronnie asked him who had a diesel truck out here. "Hmm. Oh, those rich folks from Louisville drives a Ford diesel pickup. Mebbe they showed up. Makes sense, Louisville bein' what it is. It's likely they got a bellyful of city an' decided to come out to their 'retreat', as they call it. That's the log cabin down by Mel's. They're young folks. Got a boy about half grown."
"Wonder what they are like, snooty maybe?"
"Not really. They just don't know much about livin' in the country is all. They got all kinds of fancy stuff there, with solar panels an' batteries to run the water pump an' lights an' such. They had some contractor from the city to put up that cabin, a year ago last summer. It's one of those kit houses that's all cut to fit and come in on a truck. It's pretty nice. Got a wood stove. They done that much right. Not much firewood cut, though. What you'd expect from city folks."
By this time they had walked to the house and went in to clean up for dinner at the Wilson's. _____________ Ed had been in the woods west of his trailer and noticed the truck arrive, but he was busy pulling down a wild grapevine from a tall tree. Laura wanted some thin vines to make decorations, so he used his folding belt knife to cut off the small vines from the main stem, leaving it in the woods. He couldn't see the log house from where he was, but on the way to Mike's he saw smoke from that direction. He assumed that the people from the city had come out and were getting the wood stove going. It was cold out, but not bad now that the sun was up. There had been heavy frost when he got up, but the ground hadn't frozen yet. If it didn't get too cold for a while yet, maybe he could get some more fence built. He wanted more pasture ground cleared, but he could cut trees after it got really cold. You can't hand dig post holes in frozen ground, though, so that had to come first. Ed saw Mike trimming pine branches and shaping them into a wreath. Mike said, "Just in time with those vines. I'll use them to wrap the wreaths so I don't need to use string." Ed sat down to help with the process. They made a big one for the front door, and a smaller one that they hung on the outhouse door around the traditional crescent moon cutout. Just for grins, Mike said. Laura came out with some Holly trimmings and poked them into the wreaths so the red berries would show. Food soon covered the dining table as people arrived and added their contributions. Mouths were watering as Lennie Hoskins said a Christmas prayer. He made it short and soon everyone was shuffling around the table to load plates and then find somewhere to sit. They sat on anything and everything, small tables, borrowed chairs, and some just leaned back against the kitchen counter to eat. Fresh cold milk and a big pot of coffee helped wash down the meal and the pumpkin pies that followed.
Christopher Reynolds said, "I've never been so full in my life! That was GOOD!"
Laura said, "Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"Did you cook it on this stove? What kind of stove is that?"
"It's a wood stove. There's a little wood fire in that door there, and it heats the whole stove top and the oven, if you want. I baked the pies in there."
"We have an electric stove at home. Our cabin has a wood stove, but it doesn't look like this one. It's just to heep the house warm. I guess maybe we could cook on it, too."
Laura took time to explain to the boy that her stove was made to just get the top or the oven hot, but not heat up the house so much. "It still makes the house warm, but the fire doesn't last long without feeding it often."
He was thinking about it, and said, "So, you don't have to buy gas for it, or electricity. Dad said that gas cost a lot now, and might be hard to get. He said we have plenty to last a long time, though."
"Yes, a lot of things are hard to get now, with the money all messed up."
A few men went outside with their after dinner glass of wine to smoke and visit. Talk turned from what the government might do next (nothing good, they were sure of that) to what needed done next in the neighborhood and how they could accomplish those things. Similiar talk went on in the house as men helped the women clean up after the meal. All the food was portioned out so everyone got to take home some of everything. Alicia couldn't believe they had fresh coleslaw, fresh beets, and fresh kale greens. "Fresh vegetables just can't be found in Louisville. Where did you FIND those things?"
Mel was drying dishes and said, "I cut the greens out of my garden this morning. I don't know who had the cabbage and beets, but they store real good right in the garden if you cover 'em up with something to keep 'em from freezing."
"We had the beets and cabbage," Laura told her. "Everybody has a garden out here."
Alicia had a firm look on her face and said, "Todd bought some garden seeds in cans. We will be having a garden next summer. I suppose we'll have to find a way to dig it to plant it, but he can do that."
"Why don't you have Ed plow it up for you? It's not very far to drive a tractor and he can have it done in no time at all."
"Todd got some cash exchanged, but they only let us take out a small amount. We have to be careful of what we spend until things get back to normal."
Laura looked at her and said, "Most of us out here just trade work instead of paying money for everything. Let Todd work it out with Ed."
Similiar deals were being struck among several people. Ed needed help to build fence and clear ground. Gerald and several others wanted to buy a beef calf and split it up among them. Harlan had a daily supply of milk and eggs, and he would trade for silver coins, kerosene for his lamps, or gas for his tractor. Mel had quite a bit in his garden still, and he wanted some fresh meat, too. The next month's business planning got off to a good start that day. _______________________
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Post by idahobob on Sept 5, 2013 9:52:36 GMT -6
Nice!
Bob III
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Post by patience on Sept 5, 2013 19:37:24 GMT -6
CHAPTER 33 New Year's Day, 2012
Wes answered the phone and his sister said hello. "Hello, Gloria. How are you and Larry doing?"
"Oh, we're fine."
There was a long pause. Wes heard his sister crying softly, and asked, "What's the matter, Gloria? Are you sure you're okay?"
"Larry's mother died in her sleep last night. It was a merciful thing, I guess. But we don't have any money to bury her, and the funeral home said we'd have to dig the grave, and she doesn't have a cemetery lot. The funeral director said we could bury her on the farm, 'cause the government passed this "Exemption Law" 'cause there's no fuel and we have to do something."
Wes didn't know what to say. He let Gloria cry for a minute, then asked, "So you can bury her on the farm?"
Gloria forced herself to go ahead. "Yes. I mean, the law says we can, but we don't have any way to dig a grave. Larry had some wood and made a casket today, but we have to bury her quick. Like, tomorrow at the latest. I mean, she's not embalmed or anything, and..."
"Okay, I have diesel fuel, and some gasoline, but I don't have a backhoe or any way to dig much. Can I talk to Larry?"
"Yeah. Here."
"Hello Wes. It's a bad time here."
"I'm sure it is. What can I do to help?"
"We need to get a grave dug, and the ground is frozen a couple inches down, maybe more. I tried to use my tractor and plow to break through the crust, but I can't get the plow to go in the ground. Do you know any way to do this? It would take forever to do it by hand." Wes was thinking furously. "I think I might. I've got that subsoiler and I think our tractor would make it work. I'll give it a try and call you back, okay? If it works, I'll be over and we'll get to work."
"Thanks Wes, I really appreciate this."
An hour later Wes called back and told Larry it was working, so he would drive the tractor over. ____________________
Ashley rode with him in the tractor cab, and brought a pick and a shovel. The subsoiler easily cracked the frozen crust and ripped out chunks of soil. Wes went over it several times as deep as it would go. Larry followed him with his tractor and plow to break up the dirt more. That got it 8" deep and they repeated the process. The third try, the tractors were unable to go any deeper without tipping over in the hole. Then they started the hard work of shovelling by hand.
It was getting dark by the time they had the grave about four feet deep. They decided to stop then and get something to eat. They were all exhausted. After the meal, Gloria told Wes and Ashley that she and Larry had cleaned up his mother's body.
"In all the years of nursing, I never had to clean up a dead person. They, uh, mess themselves, you know. The funeral home always did that. It's a lot harder when it's family."
Wes reached for her hand and told her he could understand. Gloria realized then that he had done it all with her ex-husband Bob. She shut her eyes tight and said, "Thank you Wes," then cried again. When she finally stopped, the crying had done it's job and she was more relaxed and calm.
Larry said, "We dressed her in nice clothes, and we put her in the casket I made. If you don't mind, I'd like to get this over with."
They all got up and got their coats on, then proceeded to carry the casket outside. It was a quiet group that carried the simple casket to the gravesite on the rise behind the house. Larry fetched some rope so they could lower the casket into the grave. He bowed his head and asked Gloria to say a few words. She said a prayer and bid the old lady goodbye. Larry threw in the traditional first handfull of dirt, and Gloria also threw a handfull. Wes said, "I'll take it from here. You all go on back to the house."
When they were inside, Wes started the big tractor and used the loader bucket to refill the grave. He ran over it with the tractor to compact the soil, then smoothed it with the bucket and mounded the leftover dirt on top. It was going on 2:00 AM when he and Ashley got home that night. _______________
Charles Allen's niece, Tara Robertson, had moved in with him and his wife Denise the last day of December with Tara's 14 year old son, Matthew. Her hair showed a lot more gray than he thought it should at 39, and she looked half starved. Her husband, a used car dealer, had died of dysentery after drinking un-boiled water by mistake. Her job at the auto license branch had ended when the new money and devaluation happened. Her husband hadn't sold a car for a long time and they were broke before he died. He was the last person the County paid for burying as a pauper.
They had been living on what the government handed out at the school, but it wasn't enough and there hadn't been any delivery of food there the past week. Her husband had siphoned all the gas from every used car on his lot and put it all in their car. She still had half a tank when she got there. All they brought was their clothes and some household things. Everything edible in their house was gone.
Charles left for work at Ed Wilson's the next morning, wondering how they were all going to eat this winter. They had enough canned food from the garden to barely make it before Tara showed up, and the teenage boy could really eat. As he walked down to Ed's farm, he decided he'd better ask if he could be paid in food of some kind.
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Post by patience on Sept 6, 2013 16:24:32 GMT -6
Chapter 33, cont'd.
The post hole auger had managed to screw itself past a rock or a root, and was stuck. Ed had a big pipe wrench on the shaft and was turning it backwards when Todd Reynolds and Charlie Allen walked up. Frost was still on the ground in shaded places, but the sun was warming and thawing the ground. It promised to be a nice winter day.
Ed said, "I had hoped to have all the post holes dug when you all got here. This is the last one, but it's not cooperating. There's rock or something down there that gets it hung up. Have to finish this one by hand."
Charlie Allen went to the farm wagon that was loaded with fencing tools and wire. He brought back the post hole digger and waited for Ed to move the tractor. Todd was obviously lost about the process, but he watched Charlie for a while and caught on to how the digger worked. "I can do that, Charlie. You know more about what to do here, so let me do the grunt work."
Charlie smiled at him and handed him the digger. "You might be sorry you said that. That looks to be a big rock down there."
They worked setting corner and gate posts, Charlie and Ed putting posts in the holes, while Todd filled dirt around them and tamped it solid. Todd began to understand why braces were put in the way they were, and soon was anticipating the next task as they completed a corner post, brace post, and brace pole. Charlie told him, "You'll make a good hand at this before the day's out," getting a smile from Todd.
About noon, Ed invited them to his place for lunch. It was a quiet walk of about a quarter mile to the road and back to Ed's trailer. In half an hour Ed had a pot of ham and beans heated up, and warmed a pan of cornbread by sitting it on top of the bean pot. The men ate heartily. Fresh ham and chopped onions in the beans tasted good after a morning working in the cold air. Todd ate twice what he normally would for lunch. Ed agreed to plow and disc half an acre for Todd as soon as the ground was fit to work in exchange for two day's work on fencing. Ed would also mow his 8 acres of flat ground with the Bush Hog, for another day's work. Charlie wanted some of the dry beans and ham, and some cornmeal for his pay. Ed agreed to throw in some freshly ground flour. Both men would bring some containers to carry home their pay the next day.
The second day of fencing saw the new gate hung and barbed wire beginning to be strung from tree to tree around the wooded slope. It would enclose almost 5 more acres of land, most of it covered with small scrub brush. Ed told them there would be more work to do this winter clearing the brush out if they wanted to work on it with him. The third day they worked a little later and finished the new fenced area. Ed gave them extra food and thanked both men for work well done. They agreed to take a break for a couple days to do work at home, then begin the brush clearing.
Todd's feet were dragging on the way home that third day. He told Charlie, "I never worked harder in my life, but I've enjoyed it. It's good to see something standing there that I helped build."
"What did you do before you moved out here?"
"My life has been desk work taking care of investments. My Dad was one of the first big investors in Humana Corporation. He left me a lot of stock when he passed away, then I diversified into other things. When the new health care bill passed, I knew it would hurt the medical field and began to search for other investments. That led me to looking at silver and gold. I found some information on preparedness and it all came together for me at once. I Googled like a madman for a week, and it made me realize how vulnerable we were depending on our investments. I decided to change that. Good thing I did, too. This property is probably the best investment I have ever made. The stocks may not be worth much for a long time, if ever again."
Charlie asked, "That when you bought property out here?"
"I had to search for it, but yes, I bought the 44 acres. I had read about cities crumbling, and Bugout Bags and saw immediately that was a bad idea without having a destination, so having a retreat was first on the list. I got a contractor busy putting the cabin on it. I probably paid too much for him to do it all, but I was in a hurry and had other things to do. He built the house, and subcontracted the well, septic system, and solar electric system. While he was busy doing that, I researched long term storage food and a lot of other things. The storage building I had built by a local cotractor that beat the other one a lot on price. He did a good job, too.
The truck was next, and I can see now that it would have been better to spend more on the property and have things already in place than to move so much at the last minute. We did okay, I guess, but I wish we had sold the big home in Louisville and moved out here. I could have done business from here as well as from there, but my wife didn't have it figured out yet. She does now, and she had begun to see what I was talking about, but not fast enough. She's trying to learn now about canning food and other things we will need to do. The satellite internet is slow, though. At least it still works.
I wish I'd had time to learn more about raising food, but it didn't work out. I did buy some garden seeds and tools for gardening. We had time for a few trips out here to stay for a week or so. It was all a big adventure for Christopher. Then I ran out of time."
They were approaching Todd's driveway. As they parted company for the day, Charlie told Todd, "It looks like you did pretty good in the time you had. Don't worry too much about how to raise food. There's lots of folks around here can show you how to do that." _____________
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Post by patience on Sept 6, 2013 19:58:03 GMT -6
Chapter 33, cont'd.
Charlie was about 100 yards down the road when he heard a gunshot, a yell, and another shot. He was torn about what to do. It had sounded like a shotgun to him. He had no gun with him, but Todd might need help. He decided to go back toward Todd's, but stay out of sight until he knew what was going on. From the brush across the road, Charlie saw Todd standing over a dead dog in the yard, a big woolly black dog. He yelled at Todd to let him know he was coming and walked closer.
Todd said, "He came after me! I was just going in the back door and he ran toward me growling. I ran in and got the gun, and he was sneaking out toward where Christopher was playing. I never saw a dog try to attack people like that!"
Charlie got close enough to get a look at the dog. "Looks to me like he was pretty hungry. Ribs showing all over and rough coat. Looks like he hadn't got a meal in a long time. Mebbe we better start carryn' a gun outside."
"You got that right," Todd said, "I'm not taking any chances."
"There goes his buddy. Over there in the weeds."
Todd saw a thin, brown dog sneaking away toward the woods behind his field. Charlie said, "I know you're tired, but we better bury him tonight, 'cause if there's more around the blood smell will draw 'em in."
Todd looked at him and said, "That's probably right. No. I'm NOT going to bury him. I'll leave him right where he is, and go have supper. Then I'll watch out here from the upstairs window. If more of them show up, I'll thin 'em out."
"You want some help?"
"No. I've got a big flashlight that clamps on this shotgun. I'll just sit upstairs tonight and see what happens. You go on home, and watch out for dogs!"
Charlie agreed and walked home wasting no time. He had a belt knife he always carried, but that wasn't his choice to have for a dog fight. Late that evening after Charlie and Denise had gone to bed, he heard several shots from Todd's direction. Charlie had already dug out his pistol, a Smith and Wesson 9mm and its' holster. He laid it on the nightstand with a couple spare magazines.
Alicia was worried sick about her son being attacked by dogs. Todd told her that he had killed 3 more, and would watch the rest of the night in case others showed up. Chris was scared, and said he wanted a gun of his own. Alicia wasn't having any of that. Todd wasn't so sure. None of them got much sleep that night. ______________ Mel had heard the shooting and walked down past Lennie Hoskins' to Todd's the next morning about 9 o'clock. He saw the dead dogs behind the house, it being a little lower than the road. Todd was in the building behind the house, making some noise. He came out with a pick and a shovel. He was wearing a pistol in a belt holster. Mel yelled at him from the road, to make sure Todd knew who was coming.
"Hi Mel. It's been a long night, but I got a bunch of 'em. That black one tried to attack me, then when I went in after the shotgun, he went after Chris. I'm killing every dog I see."
"I'd say that's a good idea. I make sure mine stays home, and ever'body else better do that, too."
"I don't want to shoot a neighbor's dog, but I'm not having these strays around."
Mel got closer and took a look. " I don't see where any of 'em was slobberin' like they had Rabies, so that's a good thing. This'n here's got a collar on. Somebody's pet that they quit feedin', most likely. Just starvin' it appears. We'll have to be watchin' for 'em now. Think I'll take to keepin' my dog inside at night. Won't have to feed him as much, it bein' cold out. An' I don't want him tied out there if a bunch sneaks up on him. Here, I'll help you with this. Where you gonna put 'em?"
Todd said, "Back along the edge of those trees. There's a low place there and I won't have to dig so deep. I'm glad the ground thawed out, or it would have been hard digging."
The next morning Todd took up his belt a notch tighter than he normally did. He was losing some of his excess belly, he noted with some satisfaction. He cut firewood that day and noticed that he got more wood cut and stacked than he ever had before in one day.
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Post by patience on Sept 6, 2013 20:53:26 GMT -6
CHAPTER 34 Mid January, 2012
When Ed went to pick up his gallon of milk, Joann smiled at him and said, "The men are off cutting fence posts today. Come in and rest a while. I baked an apple pie, if you want some."
"That sounds good after a day grubbing out brush. I'm tired and it's still a long walk home and I need to clean up the kitchen."
Joann thought about that and made her decision. She said, "I'm a good housekeeper, if you're needing one. Done it all in my time, cooking, cleaning, canning and gardening. I hate to be so bold about it, but I feel like I'm a burden to Dad."
"I'm sure you earn your keep," Ed told her. He added, "Don't they depend on you now?"
"Harlan and Ronnie don't need me here, except maybe making the cheese from the extra goat's milk. I could come over and do that, and probably their washing. They would wear the same clothes for a year if I let them."
"I don't have much room in the trailer. Would you mind that?" The idea of having someone at home was an appealing thought to Ed. The place wouldn't seem so empty.
"I don't take up much room," Joann said, and Ed laughed.
"No, you don't! You're no bigger than a minute," he said with a smile.
"I don't have much of anything but my clothes, so I wouldn't crowd you much."
"It sure sounds good to me, if it's all right with Harlan and Ronnie."
"Ronnie has been paying a lot of attention to that Robertson woman that moved in with the Allen's. I expect this place might get crowded pretty soon. Truth be told, I think if I wasn't here now, he'd be having her move in, boy and all. She's been walking all the way down here to get milk and eggs, and I can see it isn't just to do her relatives a favor."
"I like the idea a lot. But I think I should let you talk to Harlan and Ronnie. Whenever you work it out would be just fine with me. I'm pretty tired of my own cooking, you know."
The next evening, Joann gathered her few things into her car and drove over to Ed's. He had supper ready, but it didn't take more than a few minutes to get her moved in. Ed had some twinges of feelings about his wife, but put them in the back of his mind for now. Life had to go on, and he said as much to Joann. She agreed, and said she had no doubts they would be good for each other. It was a one bedroom trailer, but that wasn't a problem. _______________
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Post by patience on Sept 7, 2013 16:56:37 GMT -6
Chapter 34, cont'd.
"Ashley, I don't think it's a good idea to go to town yet. The TV said Martial Law is in effect until further notice, and you saw what Louisville looked like on the news."
"Mom, we need to know what is going on here. I can't believe that things are nearly as bad in Salem as they are in Louisville."
Wes said, "I'm in favor of going to look things over. The Blevins said they were trying to get more people to bring things to the Farmers Market. It might be a good time to sell something, or do some trading. But we need to know what store prices are, too. I've seen all kinds of prices on the internet."
Kate said, "I know all that as well as you. I just want to keep us out of trouble, is all."
They put a little gas in Wes' truck and all 3 got in. Wes had hooked the battery charger to it last night because it hadn't been started in so long he thought it might not want to go, but the old 6 cylinder fired right off. At the stop light they saw a pair of National Guard troops standing next to the gas station. There was one car beside a pump getting gas. When Wes looked at the price sign on the corner, he understood why there was only one customer.
"WOW! Six bucks a gallon for gas! That's like $12 of the old money. I wish we had bought a lot more for the farm."
Ashley said, "I don't see anybody at the drug store, either, but the lights are on. We could use some things from there."
Wes pulled in and parked the truck. They went inside, kind of surprised to see the place open. One clerk was dusting merchandise, and there was someone in the pharmacy, but noone else was in sight. It was very quiet in the store as they browsed for first aid items. A hand lettered sign at the end of an aisle said, "WE SELL SINGLE UNITS OF MOST ITEMS."
Kate said, "I've never heard of selling just one band-aid, but when a box of 50 costs four New Dollars, I guess they can't sell many full boxes." Ashley said, "There's a lot of things out of stock. The shelves of toys and gadgets are still full, but it looks like they haven't restocked the common cold medicines and first aid things. And it's cold in here."
Wes said, "I've seen enough. We can't afford to buy anything unless it is a real necessity. Let's go. I want to see the grocery stores and we need to go to the bank and take out whatever they allow."
That turned out to be $200 per week. Kate said that nobody could buy enough to eat for a week with that amount. When they passed a liquor store, there was a light inside and a man standing inside with a pistol in his belt. A sign said, "One customer at a time allowed inside".
The discount grocery where Ashley used to work had an "Out of Business" message painted on the glass door. Sav A Lot grocery was open, but the meat case was practically bare. There was no fresh produce, and only a small amount of dry staples, like sugar and flour in beat up bags. The prices ran about twice what they had been before, and that was in New Dollars. The public bathrooms had Out of Order signs on them. Wes asked the single clerk about that and was told the city plant was unable to treat the sewage and had made all the stores close their bathrooms. She said Indiana had allowed the use of outhouses during the emergency for homes, since water treatment chemicals were not available. Going to the truck with their few purchases, they noticed a distinct odor in the air.
They saw smoke from chimneys here and there, but many houses looked deserted. They saw very few cars on the town streets and only one other pickup on the highway. It was loaded down with furniture covered with blankets, headed west out of town. When they passed the high school, there was a sign that said, "Food Relief Delivery Friday at Noon". It was Saturday morning, and there was noone in sight.
On the way home Kate said, "I have never seen stores so bare, or prices so high."
Ashley said, "All I saw were half empty shelves, high prices, and dirty people with beards and bad haircuts. I didn't see anybody that looked like they'd had a good meal recently, except those soldiers. This trip was a waste of time and gas."
Kate said, "At least we found some canning jar lids."
"Yeah, but at $2.99 a dozen! That's 3 times what they used to be and our bank account got cut in half with this New Dollar crap. How the heck are people going to live with these prices?"
Wes had been quiet until now. He said, "We have to find better ways of doing business. Trade directly with people for everything we can instead of going to stores. The more we can do that, the better we will come out. And whatever we have now, we'd better take real good care of it." ________________
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Post by patience on Sept 7, 2013 20:36:01 GMT -6
CHAPTER 35 January Meeting
Mel had contacted all the residents along the ridge road for a meeting and Todd Reynolds had offered to host it in his storage building. Todd had stacked his boxes and plastic totes of goods against the back wall and left 2/3 of the big building open. He and Mel had carried Mel's picnic tables over and they had a fire going in the wood stove Mike had built. When everyone settled in Mel asked for the group's attention.
"I mostly wanted to get together to share what's going on and see what ideas you all have for making things better. As you know, prices have gone through the roof in town, that is IF you can find what you want. A lot of things just ain't there anymore."
Heads nodded and faces took on grim expressions as he continued. "We've made some progress. Todd cleaned out the dog pack that could have been a big problem. Mike built wood stoves for those of us that didn't have one, so we don't have the worry of how to afford gas or electric for heat. But Mike says that even though electricity hasn't gone up all that much since Uncle Sam took it over, his welding supplier said he has trouble getting welding rods and such, because some had been coming from overseas and the ones made here aren't back running yet."
"I'm afraid we are going to hit some tight spots coming up, even though we've got the food situation in hand for now. While we eat tonight, talk things over with each other and let's get a list together of what you've needed to buy and couldn't afford, or just couldn't get. Then we'll kick around now to deal with those things some other way if we can."
"Okay, I'm hungry and you are, too, so I'll shut up until later. Let's eat."
The people dug into the big kettle of rich stew, heavy on potatoes and onions, but with some canned vegetables and pork added. It was well seasoned and the fresh cornbread went well with it. There was no butter, but Mel had brushed the top of the cornbread with pork grease that made it a stick-to-the-ribs meal. When bowls were collected and put in hot sudsy water to soak, Mel asked for people to say what was on their minds. Lennie Hoskins began.
"As most of you know, I did get a new battery for my pacemaker, and it's doing fine. I got it because my wife Vickie knows everybody at the hospital from when she worked there as a nurse. The bad news is, it was what they had on hand and they told me their supplier isn't able to ship more to them yet, because the batteries are made in China and international payments for things isn't working too well yet. I may get another one next year, or I may not. I live one day at a time, but for no I can do what I need to and get along."
"Otherwise we are doing okay, because we got that wood stove put in and our gas will last now for cooking. We had a lot of food put away, and that's a good thing with grocery prices like they are now. We still get the same Social Security check, but it doesn't buy half what it did last year. We'll have to raise most of what we eat so we can afford to buy some shoes and a little gasoline and whatnot. It isn't going to be easy, but we think we can make it."
"Thanks Lennie," Mel said. "I'm in the same boat, because my military pension is the same deal. If I didn't have food and other necessities on hand, I'd be in trouble now. Who's next? Charlie, how about you give us what you're thinking about?"
"Yeah, okay," Charlie Allen said. "We're doing all right now. We were worried about food for a while until I did some work for Ed and got enough more food to make it until the garden comes in next summer. And I shot a deer that was plundering our winter garden, so that put meat on the table. As long as nothing big goes bad, we can get by. I want to thank Todd for getting some things for us when he went to town last week. He has helped several of us that way."
"What worries me now is prices being so high, when we need new clothes, or anything, it is going to be a stretch for us. I guess that's all I have to say."
Charlie sat down without mentioning that his niece had moved out with her son and taken a load off his household. Everyone knew that, and were glad she and Ronnie had hit it off. Ronnie was thinking about this and stood up next.
"My Mom went to live with Ed, you know, so me and Grandad had to do the cookin' and all for a while, but now me and Tara decided to be a couple and that has worked out good. Matt has been a big help around the farm, and that let me cut a lot of fence posts and get 'em in the ground this month to fence in more goat pasture. That will cut down on how much hay we need next year. The hay business has been worrying me about how to get enough with the farmers all messed up not being able to sell stock on the market yet. And there's talk of the government wanting to take livestock as some kind of tax they call it. I call it robbery. That part ain't over yet."
"But for now, we're doin' okay. I don't know how we'll get seed next year for garden and a corn field, so that could be a problem."
Ronnie sat down and Ed Wilson stood up to talk. He said, "Wes Blake has open pollinated seed corn, do you know him, Ronnie?"
"Don't think so. Where's he live?"
"Joe Kemper's farm. Wes married Joe's daughter Ashley. Wes and her has been farming that place since Joe died last year. He's got a big bin full of that corn, so we can get in touch with him for seed corn. Now for garden seeds, me and Mike both bought a some amount of them. The only thing we don't have is potatoes and sweet potatoes. We might have enough potatoes left over this year to plant some, but it will be close if we're not careful. Anyway, we can trade you for some garden seeds if you need it."
"I have a half Jersey and Guernsey heifer that should be ready to breed by Spring, if I can find a bull somewhere. She was part of the batch of feeder calves I bought last year. I was thinking about just separating the cream from her milk and making butter. I can't keep milk cold, so that makes the most sense to me. Maybe Joann can make some cheese, too, at least cottage cheese. That way we won't be in the way of what Harlan and Ronnie are doing with their goats, and we can have some butter for everybody. I figured to buy a couple pigs from Harlan and feed them the skim milk and buttermilk."
Vickie Hoskins and Gerald Tomes' wife, Anne, both spoke up and said they wanted some buttermilk when he had it. Anne said, "Don't you dare feed good buttermilk to pigs when we can make biscuits with it!"
"Okay ladies! I stand corrected. I'll trade buttermilk to anybody that wants it. But it's going to be a year from now before we get that far," Ed cautioned them. He went on to say, "I still need to build a few things, so if somebody wants work, come see me."
Todd Reynolds stodd when Ed had finished and said, "First I want to thank All of you for being good neighbors and making us welcome here. We lived in Louisville most of our lives and we hardly knew our neighbors there. This has been really great to live with friendly people. If we can help anyone, let us know how we can repay your kindness."
"I know most of you probably think we are pretty well off, but I need to explain. My Dad left me a lot of stock in Humana Corporation, and we lived off the dividends of that, plus some other investments. That stock didn't pay any dividend this year, and probably won't for a long time, so we have no income now. I did invest in this place and some other things, but I need to make a living now the same as all of you. When we run out of what stored food and things we have, that is all we have. We need to start living like everyone else here, and we have a lot to learn about that."
"We have some ground that could grow things I think, but I don't know the first thing about how to do it, and no machinery for farming. Maybe we can work a deal with somebody to do the farming somehow. Until we can begin producing something, we can pay our way with silver coins, like we have been paying you all for things already. So, anybody that is interested in working our farm land, come see me."
"When the internet works, I have been reading all I can about what is going on with currencies and finance. The government must have shut down a lot of sites, because I can't believe that so many of them would just quit. What information I have been able to find makes me think that we are in this for a long time to come."
"The US has dropped a lot lower in the economic world, and we have to get used to that. Until the US can begin producing more of our own needs, trade will languish like it has been, because the bankers ruined our currency. I would say that we now occupy a spot in the economic world about level with Mexico and some other Latin American countries. I know this isn't good news for those who have been hoping things will get better. But I believe that it is better to know what we are facing so we can make good decisions now. We need to do as much local trade as we possibly can to keep our community and our county and state going. It will also keep all that valuable trade out of the hands of the bankers that ruined our currency and our country."
There were a lot of sober faces when Todd sat down. It was quiet in the room for a while as people digested what Todd had said. Finally, Gerald Tomes got up last and said, "Thanks Todd. I plan to do just what you said! I brought some more samples of the wine we make to trade, and I have a surprise, too." He held up a jar of amber liquid. "Last year we got 6 bee hives started, and harvested a little honey."
Several heads turned and began to pay closer attention. Gerald went on. "I hope to get a crop of sorghum cane in this year, too. I bought a restored cane press last year and some seed, but we haven't tried it yet. I also bought a cooking pan, but we need to build a firebox for that and a roof over it. I'll need some help and I can pay you with wine, honey, or sorghum when that gets made. We still have some catfish in the ponds, too. We have about a quarter acre in strawberries that should produce this year. We'll need help come picking time. I could use some .22 rifle shells, and shotgun shells, if anyone knows a place to get those."
Discussion went on for an hour or more, as the families tried to get their heads around what had been said. People finally began to drift away, but several of them made it a point to thank Todd for his advice, and some said they would be back to talk to him soon about farming his place. _________________
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Post by idahobob on Sept 8, 2013 7:52:23 GMT -6
You're doing a fine job with this story.
I really appreciate it. Neighbors working together with their neighbors is the only way to go!
Now all I need is MOAR!
Bob III
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Post by patience on Sept 8, 2013 10:02:11 GMT -6
Thanks, Idahobob. Here's a little I put together this morning.
CHAPTER 36 March, 2012
Bert Hollister had been living at the jail because he couldn't afford to heat his house. He'd drained the pipes in his house, shut off the gas, and locked it up, then brought what food he had and his microwave to the jail. He hadn't washed any clothes for a couple weeks now. Doing it in buckets wasn't much fun. It was time to boil water again. Thank God for the kitchen at the jail, with its' commercial gas stove and all stainless steel cabinets. He ran two big kettles full of water and put them on the stove to heat. He'd had to free all 9 prisoners in the County Jail because he couldn't feed them. Three of them had just been Saturday night drunks, two were wife beaters, and the rest were an assortment of DUI's and drug possessions. Not what he'd call hardened criminals and he didn't expect any real problems out of them. But on the way out he'd told them that if they got in trouble again, he'd shoot them on sight. He hadn't seen any of them since then.
He hadn't seen much of anybody, for that matter. People were staying inside to keep warm as best they could. He'd let a few homeless sorts sleep in the jail when it was really cold out, but he didn't have anything for them to eat and ran them out the next morning. He realized he'd lost weight and had to take his belt up a couple notches, but he wasn't starving. The last government food relief had been back in January, and he'd gotten all he could then, but it didn't last long. It was all outdated biscuit mixes and such things, so he'd had to scrounge like everybody else for anything green he could find to go with it. Some people had died from eating house plants, weeds, and who knew what else. The death toll was high, but he didn't have any accurate count because most of them weren't reported to anyone.
Bert ate a meager breakfast of pancakes with no syrup or butter, washed down with freshly boiled water. He was getting low on shortening to fry them with. There was only a part of a can of Crisco left and one small bottle of vegetable oil. He knew he needed a better diet or his health would fail.
If there was anything to be thankful for, it was that the government man was gone. He had been recalled to Indianapolis when the money devalued. They had sent a truck once a month since then with rations for the National Guard troops here, but that was all old MRE's, some of it inedible the boys said. Some of them ate it anyway, weevily crackers and all. They put the younger dated stuff in the armory and locked it up, wondering which shipment would be the last one. The government had Nationalized all the utilities and kept the electric power, natural gas, city water, and sewage departments running. That was their best achievement in this whole disaster. Of course, the water wasn't safe to drink and the sewage plant stunk to high heaven for lack of chemicals and was polluting the river, but at least some people had toilets that worked. Indiana had decided they didn't want the untreated sewage in the rivers and had allowed the use of outhouses, but it was far from effective and a lot of sewage still got to the rivers.
Bert knew there were farmers that were doing a lot better than the townspeople, but nobody had been able to convince them to sell much for the New Dollars. Silver coins, gold wedding rings, some gold jewelry they would take, if they had a surplus of something. There wasn't much of that left in town now. The only thing that was plentiful was corn. There were still some fields standing unharvested, when the dollar crash put some big farmers out of business, unable to sell their crops. Those fields now were the major source of food for some people who had figured out how to pound it into cornmeal and make something like corncakes.
The poor diet had left too many people vulnerable to illness. Old people, the very young, and those in poor health had not made it through the winter. As people got desperately hungry, some had tried to rob stores, homes, and farms. The violent deaths of many had soon made clear that was a bad idea. Storekeepers now all had guns in plain sight, and somebody hidden to back them up. Farmers had taken to shooting anyone who came on their property at night, so few ventured into the countryside.
In town it had been worse for a short time, but the violence had burned itself out within a few weeks. For a time, all Bert and the City Police got done was haul off dead bodies to bury. One young city policeman had asked too many dumb questions about what happened, and didn't live to tell about it. They found him in his cruiser with a note that said to mind your own business. Nobody in the neighborhood had seen anything. So far, there had been only a couple fires in town from people trying to cook or heat with unsafe means. Now, there was always the smell of wood fires in the air, from outdoor cooking. That helped to cover the smell of the crude outhouses. Bert thought it didn't even resemble his town now. He was glad he was a widower. He would have hated for his wife to have to live through this. It was more or less peaceful in town now, but it was an uneasy peace. _____________________
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Post by patience on Sept 8, 2013 21:28:40 GMT -6
Chapter 36, cont'd.
Digging in the back of his storage building, Todd found the case he was looking for and brought out 2 new Ruger 10/22 rifles, some spare magazines, and a cleaning kit. The tote under it had bricks of .22 ammunition. He got 2 of those and carried it all out to a table near the front door. Alicia had agreed to let Chris learn how to shoot, after many assurances that it would all be closely supervised. Todd had taken a hunter safety course and still had the literature that he'd had Chris study until he was sure the boy understood it. Todd's own skills were not the best with a rifle. He was a good instinctive shooter, with pistol and shotgun, but deliberate aim was not his strong suit. Remembering that Gerald Tomes had wanted .22 ammunition, Todd had asked him to come down today and give Chris and himself some lessons.
They spent the morning and half the afternoon with Gerald, learning to safely handle a Ruger .22, how to properly clean it, take the action out of the stock for more thorough cleaning and oiling, and finally how to adjust and use the open sights effectively. Most of what Gerald had taught them applied to any long gun, so Todd thought it was time well spent.
Target shooting was next. Gerald peeled some dry bark off some firewood and rubbed a spot of mud on it, then propped that against the bottom of a fence post about 30 steps away. Todd said, "That's a little hard to see the spot. I'll go get some paper targets I bought."
"You can if you want to, but this looks a lot more like the color of a squirrel sitting on a limb. That's what you need to be able to shoot and HIT. When you can hit that spot ever' time, I'll hang it on a small limb and let it bobble around a little, like a tree limb with a squirrel sittin' on it. Hittin' a piece of cardboard that is nailed to something solid is a lot easier. What I'm doin' is gettin' you ready to bring home supper."
It was just the first of many lessons that day. Todd and Christopher each shot over 200 rounds, but by evening, they were hitting what they aimed at. Gerald had asked for a couple boxes of .22 ammunition for teaching them, but Todd gave him a brick of 500 rounds and thanked him sincerely. Gerald thought he was a little too generous with his ammo, but he took it and was grateful. Todd promised him they would practice more until they were sure of themselves.
Alicia had been watching part of the time and after seeing the whole process, she told Todd she would like to learn to shoot a rifle like that. Todd grinned and said, "I thought you'd never ask!" He went back to the building and got the third rifle out. He handed it to her and said, "Happy birthday."
"It's not my birthday yet..."
"No, but now I'm off the hook for when it does come around!"
"How many guns did you buy?"
"I bought three of these .22's, three shotguns like the one in the kitchen, three 9MM pistols like the one you've seen me carry, and three AR15 rifles. I decided it wouldn't be long until Christopher grows up so I should have one of everything for all of us."
"But I've never shot anything in my life."
"You'd have shot that dog the other day, though."
"Yes. I'd have shot him."
"That's why I bought the guns."
She thought about it for a minute and said, "I suppose you got shells for all of them, too."
"I bought enough that we won't run out anytime soon."
"You never do anything halfway, do you?"
"You should know that by now." _____________
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Post by notchman on Sept 8, 2013 21:34:39 GMT -6
Must have MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by patience on Sept 8, 2013 23:05:43 GMT -6
CHAPTER 37 Butchering time. Again.
The smokehouse was about empty, and Harlan had more people asking for meat, so he decided it was time to butcher 4 more hogs. The last batch of pigs he bought were up to probably 300 pounds or more. It was still cold enough out so the meat wouldn't spoil before he could salt cure and smoke it, but the weather could change pretty soon, so this might be the last chance for the year. Four was all he could do at one time, since that would fill the old log smokehouse.
He had Matthew go to his customers and see who wanted to help butcher for part of the meat. Todd Reynolds, Harlan's daughter Joann, Lennie and Vicki Hoskins, and Charles Allen took him up on it. They would show up early the next morning. Ronnie and Harlan set up the old tank and they all carried water until they were tired. The scalding tank was filled halfway so it wouldn't overflow when they dunked a hog in it, and firewood was laid ready to light the fire under it. The old chain hoist was hung on the stout tree limb he always used, and the lard kettle was hung on its' tripod with wood ready to make a fire under it.
They dragged out the old butcher table Harlan had made many years ago of split walnut logs, adzed and planed smooth, pegged together on a strong frame. He would boil some ashes tonight in the kettle to both clean it and to use the lye water for cleaning the butchering table. Then, another boiling of water in the morning for rinsing should do it. They would make more lye later when soap making time came, but that didn't have to be done tomorrow, and butchering 4 hogs was plenty to do in one day. They had bags of salt, some sugar and molasses he'd gotten last year from the Amish man, and some home grown Sage and red pepper ground up for seasoning the sausage.
They were as ready as they could be. There was just a little frost on the grass in the high pasture, and the sky was clear, so it would get colder tonight without any insulating cloud cover. Should have a hard frost tonight, Harlan thought. That would be perfect. ____________ Breakfast came early the next morning and was over by daylight. Harlan had started the fires before breakfast, so the water was hot by the time help got there. Ronnie sloshed buckets of boiling water over the butcher table and rinsed out the lard kettle with it. The scalding tank was just starting to boil, so Harlan said they were ready for the first hog.
Christopher had vowed he wanted to go and see the butchering. He was sure he could do something to help, and the idea of turning a live hog into bacon and ham wa something he just had to see. Todd told him it would be more gory than the worst horror movie he had ever seen. That was fine with Christopher. Besides, he had something to prove to Matthew, who had seen this before.
He mentally braced himself for the shot from when Ronnie raised the rifle, thinking that blood would go everywhere. It did not. There was a POP, then the hog fell down flat, and that was it. No blood, just a little black hole in its' head. He decided that this was a piece of cake. Nothing too bad about killing a hog. They weren't his favorite animal anyway. Charles Allen and Ronnie hooked a log chain around the hind legs and dragged the pig a few feet over the frosty grass to the hoist. A big dirty tarp was on the ground there, and he wondered what that was for. The hog just got hoisted up until the head was off the ground when Harlan stuck a butcher knife in its' throat and cut sideways. Blood gushed out by the gallon, and Christopher felt a little sick, but he bit his lip a little and decided he could take this.
The men swung the carcass over the scalding tank and lwered it into the hot water for half a minute, then pulled it out again and two people began to scrap bristles off the hog. That was finished pretty quickly, leaving a pile of the stiff hair on the ground. They washed the outside of the hog with more hot water.
He learned that the show was just begun when Harlan cut around the hog's anus and pulled the gut out far enough to tie a stout piece of hay twine around it to keep it from leaking on the meat. Then the old man began at the hog's throat and cut all the way up the center of the belly to the anus. Halfway through this, the intestines and organs began to spill out. Chris was frozen in place, staring. Harlan rolled up his sleeves and reached inside the body cavity to pull out the lungs. The wind changed then and a strong whiff of the hog's insides hit Christopher's nose. He had never felt so sick in his life. He did get bent over enough so that when he threw up his breakfast, it missed his shoes. Mostly. Matthew was nearby and said, "It does STINK, now don't it?"
Christopher was too bleary eyed to answer. Matthew said, "I got a bucket of drinking water over here. I'll get you some to rinse your mouth out and it'll get better."
Chris took the offered glass and did as he was told, to rinse his mouth and spit it out. After a couple of times he drank some water to ease his burning throat. He handed the glass back to Matthew and wiped his eyes on his coat sleeves. He mumbled something about he never thought he would get sick.
"Some people do every time they butcher, but most get used to it. Nobody likes the smell though. Most people hold their breath till the worst is over and you can take it better. They'll drag the guts off and bury 'em now, so that is about over."
Chris looked at Matthew with new respect and said, "Thanks for the drink. I think I'm okay now."
Ronnie was washing out the inside of the carcass by sloshing buckets of water in it and letting it drain away. The smell was mostly gone now. Within a few minutes, Harlan had split the hog down the center of the back bone with an axe, then removed the tenderloins with his knife. The jowls came off next, then the head with the help of the axe again. The butcher knife alone separated the front shoulders and then the hams. Harlan carefully peeled the bacon off the ribs on one side while Ronnie did the other side. The meat was piling up on the table fast.
The women took the tenderloins into the house to slice for fresh eating. The rest of the hogs would have the tenderloins canned for keeping, but the slices from this one were all to be fried so they would keep for a few days. Some fat trimmings from the bacon were put in the skillets first to get fry out fresh lard for frying the lean tenderloin. The rest of the fat trimmings went into the big lard rendering kettle that was starting to sizzle with just a little water in the bottom to keep them from sticking, aided by continuous stirring with a long wood paddle.
Men carried hams, shoulders, bacon slabs, and jowls into the smokehouse to be packed in wooden boxes, layered with dry salt mixed with sugar, molasses and a little pepper. They would stay in the boxes for a week or so before taking them out to smoke.
The table was empty again except for trimmed chinks that the women began to cut up further and sort, the lean meat and some fat went into a box to make sausage, and the excess fat went into the rendering kettle to make lard. Some of the fried tenderloins would be packed in crocks and big jars with hot lard poured over them. Those would keep for a couple months until hot weather.
The whole process was repeated 3 more times that day. Chris did his share of carrying water and washing up things. He learned that butchering was a messy process, and was one tired boy by the time he and his Dad drove home taking fresh lard and tenderloin slices. ______________
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Post by patience on Sept 9, 2013 8:20:15 GMT -6
Author's Note:
There are no pork chops doing it this way. The tenderloin is the inner back muscle that forms the eye of a pork chop. (Known as a ribeye in beef cuts.) The pork chop bone is part of a rib. That is hard to do without a bandsaw to cut the bones so farmers normally cut it the way I described. Meat is trimmed closely off the ribs and put into sausage. The "backstrap" muscle can be cut as split and pounded slices for more tenderloin. Feet are usually cut up close to the hams and shoulders and meat from the lower legs is put into sausage along with all other trimmings from the main cuts.
The sausage meat is ground in a hand cranked meat grinder and then mixed with seasonings and ground a second time to get it finer and well mixed. Sausage can then be stuffed into casings, in this situation, not synthetic casing (plastic, IIRC), but cleaned and washed intestines that have been turned inside out and scrubbed, often with diluted vinegar then soaked in salt water to help disinfect them. A sausage stuffer is required, the gut being slid onto a spout and tied at the end. As meat is forced into the gut, the link of sausage grows in length and can be twisted at any point to form "links". The links are left together as a rope that is then hung over a stick in the smokehouse for smoking.
Alternately, sausage can be fried immediately as patties, and the patties put in crocks layered with hot lard for longer keeping, an easier choice.
There is no "right way" to butcher an animal, it is all personal choices.
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Post by patience on Sept 9, 2013 16:15:13 GMT -6
CHAPTER 38 The Next Leg Down April, 2012
The computer was so slow, Todd thought he had lost his internet connection again, but the Zerohedge page came up eventually and the headlines were panicky. On Monday, the Japanese, in dire straits from all their ills, had sold a sizable amount of Treasury bonds. The Italian banks followed suit along with the big European banks, breaking the faith with their intertwined US bank friends. The US 10-year bond was the big news, trading at 8%, then 12%, then no-bid.
Todd knew what to expect next. He sold all his stock he could in the next hour and had the money wired to his bank in Salem. He managed to get almost a third of his Humana stock sold before the market closed on a down circuit breaker. It was too big a drop for the market to re-open, so Todd told his wife he had to go to the bank. On the way out the door, he told his wife to have all their friends to spend every dollar they had on something they would NEED to live, and do it ASAP, because the dollar was crashing hard again. Oil prices would go out of sight, and everything else along with it.
At the bank, he got all the cash they would let him have, $5,000, the limits having been raised again. He said he was going to buy a tractor and to be expecting a call to verify his checks. He made it to the next small town south where a major Case-IH dealer was located and began to bargain. In an hour's time, he was the confirmed new owner of a tractor and some new farm equipment with some maintenance items. It would be delivered the next day. The dealer was delighted. Sales had been slow to non-existent this year, so Todd had gotten the best prices he could allow.
He stopped at Blue River Farm Supply on the way out of town and bought plans and materials for a large Pole barn and a large amount of fencing materials, also to be delivered the next day, or as much of it as they could get in a couple truckloads, with the rest to follow later. Back at home, he went to Ed's place and found him there. Ed agreed to mow a couple acres of ground that evening, and stay at Todd's the next day to meet the trucks and sign for deliveries. Todd told him to use his best judgement about what to do with everything as it arrived, and handed Ed a wad of money for his trouble. He told Ed to spend it fast because it would probably be worthless soon. Ed promptly called home and had Joann drive his little pickup over. He handed her the money and sent her to town to buy "anything you think we need if we can't go shopping again for a couple years".
Early the next morning, Todd got on the phone to the Jackson County Co-op and ordered a couple fuel tanks to be set and filled with diesel fuel, and another with gasoline, a couple barrels of Schell Rotella motor oil, and one of transhydraulic oil. The prices were outrageous, but he got what he wanted. He offered a sizable tip for fast delivery and it seemed that money still had some influence. He did the same at the local stone quarry and had several Triaxle loads of fine stone spread where he would put the pole barn.
Todd watched the computer the next morning and saw the stock market open and close again, lock limit down. It reopened and crashed from automated trading sales in a flash-crash. Todd went off on a shopping binge again, with the Ford Super Duty and trailer in tow. He wrote checks at Sam's Club, Wal Mart, and other stores that did an instant electronic transfer. The prices were astronomical, and shelves had been less than half full, but there had been few people in the stores. The truck and trailer were both loaded on the way home.
Todd didn't have time to talk to anyone in their neighborhood, but he met several of them on his trips in and out. Apparently, they were busy following what he'd said. ______________
Thursday Alicia and Todd had piles of materials stacked on the newly mowed ground, and a thick stone driveway laid going to the building site. The ground had firmed up enough after the Spring thaw that they also spread the fine stone for the new barn floor about 8" thick. Ed was busy running the big new tractor over it repeatedly to pack that stone in place, and used the bucket loader to level it. He had put some stakes out to guide the stone trucks, so they got it about the right size. There was an impressive lineup of farm machinery behind the building site.
Late the next afternoon, the INO dollar index briefly showed the US Dollar Index at 23 (Out of 100) before the site shut down. Kitco's site was too overloaded to come up, but Todd got a silver price on Northwest Territorial Mint at $162 an ounce before the site quit responding on Friday afternoon. Todd was taking a break after another trip to the farm store, based on what Ed had told him he needed. That load was still on the truck and trailer. It might have to stay there until the new building got put up.
Despite massive interventions by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank, the dollar had not been rescued. FX markets were closed, along with all other financial markets and all US banks. There was nothing on the evening news of any announcement by the government. _______________
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Post by patience on Sept 9, 2013 19:20:28 GMT -6
Chapter 38 cont'd.
"Todd, are you going to buy a farm to use all that equipment? Surely we don't need that much for this small amount of ground." Alicia was beginning to think her husband had blundered.
"I'm betting a lot that there will be ground available to farm and nobody to do it. Farmers are broke, at least most of them. The banks will take the ground back in foreclosure and it will sit there looking for someone to work it. The big seed and fertilizer and chemical companies can't function without the banking system, so all that is broken. I don't think there will be much farming next year, unless the government takes a hand in it, and they are broke and broken, too. There will be a terrible need for food next year, and nobody able to supply it. We are going to hit bottom in a big way."
"How can you make any money if noone else has any money?"
"Money is the old way of measuring wealth, and that is broken the worst of all. Money as we knew it is dead. The new wealth is going to be measured in real goods. I have been thinking about that for over two years now, but I didn't see how to find the opportunity in the situation. The answer is to be a producer of real things that people need. Food, water, heat, clothing, medicine, and all the rest. I think I have an opportunity to produce food and get paid in real goods. Like the deal of the government trading diesel fuel and gasoline for grain."
"How do we buy what we need if we don't get paid in money?"
"The idea is to get paid in what we need, INSTEAD of money, and cut out all the middlemen. We raise corn, grind it into cornmeal, and trade that usable food product for things we need. Even if goods aren't available in stores, there is still a lot of goods around. If I need a part for the tractor, I am betting the person who has it will be hungry and want food. It will be a different way of doing business, but we will all have to learn it together, like we have here so far, trading with neighbors. I'm just upping the ante and planning on doing business on a bigger scale."
Alicia sat and thought for a while without saying anything. Christopher had been listening and trying to understand the best he could. He asked, "Dad, if money is no good now, how did you buy all that stuff outside?"
"Money still had some value this week, but it has been getting to be worth less every day. For example, I bought rolls of barbed fence wire yesterday for $129 each. I saw Ed this morning and he said it was $199 a roll this morning at the same farm store in town. It was made in Brazil, and imported to the US. With the dollar going down in value so fast, stores have to raise their prices faster to be able to buy more, if they can get any at all. I think that within a month, we won't be able to buy much of anything that is imported because they won't want our dollars."
Alicia looked grim.
Chris said, "What can we use for money to buy stuff, if dollars are no good?"
"We'll have to trade for what we want. Find someone who has what we need and find something they need to trade for it. It's called barter. Like I bartered some .22 cartridges to Gerald for teaching us about shooting a rifle."
"Yeah. But lots of stuff is made in China. It says so right on it with little stickers. Who can we trade with in China? That's halfway around the world!"
"We probably won't be getting much of anything from China for a while. The cost of sending it here on a ship would be too much, and with our dollars not worth much, we couldn't afford to buy their goods."
"Where are we going to get stuff?"
"We probably won't get much of anything for a long time, unless it is made In the US, and more likely, close to home. Like we got pork from Harlan by helping him butcher, and I gave him some silver coins for the rest."
"I guess that means no toys and stuff. Oh well, I guess I don't need toys that much."
Alicia said, "I'm worried about what that means for clothing, and shoes and household goods. How can we live that way?"
"It's not going to be easy," Todd said. "Better take good care of what we have." _____________________
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Post by idahobob on Sept 9, 2013 19:59:26 GMT -6
Life is getting "Real" exciting!
Need MOAR!
Bob III
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Post by papaof2 on Sept 9, 2013 22:49:36 GMT -6
And my wife wondered why I was excited when she got her late grandmother's Singer treadle sewing machine. It's currently on the landung at the top of the stairs to the upper level, covered with family pictures. But the spare needles, bobbins, and an unused round leather belt are put away in a box for future need.
Wonder how you would value clothing repairs and what new, custom made clothing would be worth (value of materials plus labor)? How much cornmeal or honey or how many rounds of .22LR or days labor in the garden?
I learned do basic sewing early on - something my mother insisted I know before graduating from high school. Eventually, I learned more, both by hand and machine (whether electric or treadle) including some decorative "stuff" (cross-stitch and needlepoint) - even made clothes for our kids' favorite dolls.
Making a skirt for a school costume isn't that much different from rebuilding an internal combustion engine - whether flathead V8 or overhead cam 4 - they both involve a lot of repetitive work: many stitches in a seam or hem, many rings on 8 pistons. However, sewing would be my wife's first choice. She'd send the engine repairs my way ;-)
Sent from my M1061 using proboards
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Post by patience on Sept 10, 2013 13:03:38 GMT -6
Chapter 38 cont'd. Experience had taught Joann what she needed, and she had seen the nearly bare stores in Salem, so when Ed had given her all that money, she headed north. At Brownstown, the local hardware store had all manner of country living things. They still had plenty of canning jars and lids, lye for soap making, and much more. She was in a hurry and wasted no time. Prices hadn't gone up as fast here in the small town as they had elsewhere. She got all she could without attracting too much attention and went to both grocery stores in town. They had limits on some things, like flour and sugar, but she bought all she could of those and stocked up on what they had. Seymour had more and bigger stores, but had also had some riots last year. Wal Mart was open again, but their stocks were very low. Joann did get a lot more sugar and some fabric and thread. She went to the shoe aisle and bought herself a couple pairs of good quality sneakers and sturdy outdoor boots, then got some new underwear and lots of socks for both Ed and herself. Next was a few pairs of jeans for each of them, heavy work shirts and Tee shirts for summer wear. She checked out the load and went on to every grocery outlet in town buying sugar and coffee. She filled up with gas on the way out of town at $11.60 a gallon. That used about all the money she had left. A big flatbed trailer was unloading roof trusses at the Reynolds place with Ed supervising when she got there. Joann stopped to see what was going on and talked to Alicia for a few minutes before going on home. The truck was sagging when she got home with it. The camper top on the bed was packed full. Joann parked it behind the trailer and left most of the stuff in the truck, since none of it was perishable. She was tired. She decided it was time to get something going for supper, so when Ed got back they could eat and crash for the evening. Ed had the farm equiment unloaded near the back edge of the area he had mowed. Todd had dumped a load of fencing materials by his storage building, so Ed took a few wood fenceposts to lay the trusses on when they came. That would keep them from getting too wet and preserve them until they were used. More posts were laid down for stacking the barn lumber, then he had the delivery guys use the etal siding and roofing to cover all the lumber. That would keep rain off of it. He threw a few big sticks of firewood on top to keep any wind from moving the sheets of metal. It made a neat stack and was pretty weatherproof. Ed and Todd had talked late one night about what sort of farm equipment Todd should buy to work his few tillable acres plus what ground he could rent nearby. Ed told him about a rebuilt tractor he had seen. The dealer had taken it in on trade, then sales slowed to a crawl, so they had used their idle mechanics to do whatever repairs it needed, and put some tires and new paint on it. It was an IH 686. www.youtube.com/watch?v=53UWWbkJspM The tractor had 66 HP, a size smaller than Ed's 786 at 80 HP. There was a 4-14" plow that went with it, and it had been sitting there a long time, so the price might be right on it. It even had the gear shift transmission instead of the troublesome hydrostat, and the torque amplifier had been rebuilt. Todd had bought the tractor and plow, and a lot more. There was a late model John Deere square hay baler, a 3 point mount cultivator, a JD 4 row toolbar planter and a 12 ft. wheel disk. More was coming the next day, the driver said, an 11 foot haybine and he wasn't sure what else. Ed thought that Todd had probably cleaned out the back lot of good used equipment at the dealer, and he was close to right. Todd had also asked a lot of questions of the IH dealer about what parts and supplies he would need to farm for at least a couple seasons. The old salesman had farmed for most of his life. To him, this young man looked to have more money than brains to be getting into farming, seemingly overnight. But he answered him to the best of his ability and Todd took a lot of notes. The salesman had a really good sales tally that day, too, and that would net him a nice commission check. _______________ Ed and Joann spent a couple days getting her purchases put away, and had to shuffle things to make it all fit. Ed told her, "I need to get busy using some of the stuff I bought last year. There is enough here to put up a pole shed big enough to keep the tractor inside and have room for doing work on it. I can dig the post holes with the auger, but I'll need some help to set those tall posts. That's coming up for Todd, too, on his much bigger pole barn. I'll have to work with him so we can each find enough people to work when we need them." "The women can work, too. That Tara Robertson is a worker. Let me talk to her about it, and I bet the three of us can get this done." "Suits me. You don't need too much experience to hold posts straight, and hand lumber up so it can be nailed in place. Wonder if she can drive nails?" "I'll find out, but it doesn't matter, 'cause I can drive nails. I'm not too sure about those big long ones for putting the frame together, but I have put siding and roofing on before. My first husband and I fixed up an old house." ___________________
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Post by patience on Sept 10, 2013 14:40:45 GMT -6
CHAPTER 39 May 2012
Ed provided ground flour and cornmeal, plus some garden seeds in exchange for a couple days work from Tara, and it turned out to be a good deal for him. The extra hands made the pole building go up easily, and that in turn got Tara a job helping Todd when he began work on his bigger barn.
When he wasn't tending cattle or clipping pasture, Ed and Joann were busy cleaning up their place. With the tractor parked at home in the pole shed, there was room in the barn at the farm for extra fence wire and posts. One of Ed's small sheds got cleaned out by moving garden tools and mechanic's stuff to the new pole shed.
Joann had helped with the hog butchering and meat processing, and besides some pork, she came home with a rooster. She now had an old hen sitting on some eggs to hatch. Meanwhile, Ed had plowed a much larger garden for Mike, Laura, and he and Joann. The garden seeds proved to be a valuable commodity. Everybody needed some seeds so trade was brisk and gave Ed some needed income. __________________
The radio and TV announced another official devaluation of the dollar by 50% and increases in Social Security and other social program payments. Unfortunately, store prices went up as fast as everyones checks increased so there was no net gain. All the moves did was to price a lot of people out of being able to buy anything much to eat, and more problems followed. Rioting began again in the cities and this time they did not stop when soldiers fired on them. There weren't enough soldiers to quell the rioting.
On the heels of this new devaluation, Indiana and 28 other states immediately passed laws accepting silver and gold coins as legal payment for taxes and other debts owed to those states, in addition to accepting Federal Dollars. Within a month, all 50 states had done so. The exchange rates offered were generous, indicating the States' distaste for the plunging US dollar. The Federal Treasury then tried to make a legal case for this being a violation of the Federal Legal Tender Law, but was struck down by both the Supreme Court in an extremis ruling, and also by 29 States threatening secession for violation of States' Rights under the US Constitution.
Silver and gold became the de facto currency in most of the country within days. The problem was, there just wasn't nearly enough of it. That was remedied to some degree by the high valuation of each relative to US dollars, but most importantly in relation to oil and petroleum products. A gallon of diesel fuel had been recently selling for $14 to $16 a gallon before the last devaluation of 2 to one. After the devaluation, diesel was selling at over $40 a gallon, indicating that the "official" devaluation was not nearly equal to the real drop in the dollar. But now a pre-1964 silver quarter would buy a gallon of diesel fuel at most stations. The station owners had no trouble selling the quarters for more than $40 each, so they made a profit on that end of the transaction besides the profit regulated by the government that set the price of fuels.
Ed was glad that he still had a small stash of silver coins that he had collected over his lifetime, and he was adding to it regularly selling garden seeds and beef. Todd Reynolds had decided to hedge his stock investments long before the market crashed by selling some stock for bags of silver and tubes of gold coins. Harlan Ames had been accepting silver coins in payment for pork, milk and eggs for some time. Lennie Hoskins had once bought some "collectible" silver bullion bars in one ounce sizes. He had paid a premium price for them at the time, but was glad now that he'd bought them.
Silver was now valued at somewhere between $160 and $220 an ounce, and gold was selling for $6,600 to $8,000 an ounce, depending on the exchange rate in a given State. The numbers were mostly meaningless, since the problem was the low value of a dollar, not the high price of precious metals. ______________
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Post by patience on Sept 11, 2013 14:42:34 GMT -6
Chapter 39 cont'd.
This latest surge in prices was the breaking point for most of the population. Very few could afford to buy enough to eat and that resulted in chaos. Any store or home that was thought to have food was a target of individuals and impromptu mobs. The criminal element that had been freed from prisons across the country now came into their own time. Home invasions soared, with little success because few had any food to steal. Groups from towns and cities began to move toward the countryside in search of anything to eat. Mostly, they moved on foot, but some found vehicles to steal and drive until they ran out of fuel. Some family groups were benign at first, simply begging at any door, but they often became violent as they found no one willing to part with what they had, if anything.
Communications began to fail as employees of the government run systems were as bad off as the rest, and failed to show up to work. Telephone systems were the first to go and the internet along with it, although the more automated systems endured for a few days. Radio and televison stayed up longer, being the propaganda systems of a government desperate to hold onto power, and restore some kind of order. Nobody believed what was on the media, however. With the telephones failing, the last source of real news was gone.
A few days into this latest stage of the crisis, Wes Blake called his sister Gloria and told her there was too much risk for her and Larry being alone on their place closer to town. They discussed it at some length and agreed to join Wes, Gloria and Kate for mutual protection at their place, being farther out of town by about 5 miles.
They would move their livestock and everything else of value that they could. Wes would drive the tractor and pull a wagon, and Ashley would drive Wes' truck with stock racks and pulling another wagon to try to make the move in one trip. Gloria's car and Larry's truck with stock racks would also haul all they could. Goats, rabbits, chickens, pigs and dogs would all come on the first trip. The men planned to go back with the trucks to get the cattle, but before it was over they had made 2 more trips, trying to get everything that wasn't nailed down. Kate's big old farmhouse would be full, but there would be two more people to help keep watch and guard what they had. _____________
Todd called a community meeting at his place. There was some early salad makings to freshen up the meal, cornbread, and a big pot of chili. People were quietly talking as they ate, with some worried looks around the picnic tables.
Mel stood up and spoke first. "We need to talk about how to provide some security for ourselves here. The last news I had, there's more riots going on and people doing home invasions because they are starving."
Charlie interrupted to say, "My cousin called from town and said her husband got killed when a gang came in their house. She was at the neighbor's and they fought 'em off. Shot some of 'em too, but most got away. It's crazy out there."
Mel went on, "No doubt about that. I think we need somebody guardin' the road. What do you all say?"
Everyone talked at once for a while until Todd stood up and called for order. "Let's talk one at a time about this and get a plan put together, okay? Who's first? How about you Charlie, since you live close to the end of the road?"
One by one people voiced their ideas and feelings. It took a couple hours, but a consensus was reached to block the road beyond Charlie Allen's property and station someone to watch that blockade from a hidden vantage point. They would have a walkie talkie provided by Todd, to call for help if they thought there was a threat trying to get past the blockade.
Mike and Ed would cut a couple big trees to fall across the road to stop vehicle traffic. It would still be possible to get in and out of the neighborhood by going across the back of Todd's property and out to the highway through Dan Billings' farm lane, a deserted looking dirt track. A volunteer schedule was worked out for the first two weeks for watch duty. Help would be on call, by another pair of radios monitored by Mel and Gerald who could gather a force to stop any trouble.
On his way home that night, Mel began to think back to days long ago and the methods used in a long ago war. It gave him nightmares, but he knew it was needed now. He had hated going to war back then, hated it more during and after it, and even more so now. He'd decided long ago to live out here where nobody would bother him, but he had backed up as far as he planned to go. He began to look over his property and others in a new way. He had some ideas. ______________
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